This was submitted to the editor of The Eagle.

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Jeremiah Headen rightly lost the vice presidency of the Student Government over an ignorant Facebook note. Its contents — an ode to hegemonic masculinity — slammed men for claiming their gender identity without fitting into a specific mold. It ended with an unnecessary, all-caps call to raid booty and women from neighboring villages.

The comments on The Eagle’s Web site, mostly by social justice activists and advocates, as well as involved and offended student voices, condemned Headen for being an “anti-queer misogynist” and for undermining American University’s commitment to being a “safe space” for the “gay community.” He was also rebuked for using the offensive term “hermaphrodite” as a substitute for “intersex.”

What a wonderful bunch of voices! I have never encountered a more progressive, open view of human sexuality than at this college. The willingness of these students to learn about safe and respectful sex here should be celebrated by social justice activists.

Contemporary gender theory, accepted and often revered by social scientists and academics, states that men and women are born autonomous, only to have gender identities imposed on them by socialization and cultural pressure. This is known as “social construction theory.”

Like the other great movements in history, the goal of contemporary feminism and queer activism is not to justify disrespectful acts, but to abolish them at the root. The idea that nonconsent and coercion make sexual exploration exciting has been revisited and revised by modern feminist scholars. Sex isn’t about individual desire, it is about mutuality, respect, and pleasure. It’s about excitement, exploration, and comfort. Feminism envisions a bedroom scene in which two confident, sexual beings ask each other for consent and ensure the mutual pleasure in an activity rather than risk violating and potentially scarring their partner or partners. Better yet: sex-positivity and the belief in consent extend to fetishism, sadomasochism, kink and cross-dressing. How risqué!

For my pro-sex views, I am variously called a misandrist, a feminazi, and — my personal favorite — a “bitch.”

Let’s get this straight: any person who heads to a party and drinks five cups of the jungle juice is unable to provide consent. To justify manipulating someone who is inebriated, taking advantage of someone with physical threats, date-rape drugs, and coercion, and/or disregarding someone’s ability to enjoy or consent to sex is the equivalent of pulling a gun to someone’s back and shooting it in the dark. When you fuck someone who cannot soberly and comprehensively inform you of their comfort in a sexual situation, you’re fucking alone.

“Date rape” is an important concept. Verbal and enthusiastic consent makes dating and sexual relationships easier to navigate without hurting someone else. It’s not clear enough to merely “assume” consent, because the lines of consent in sex — especially anonymous sex — can become very blurry. If that bothers you, then stick with Alex Knepper and his brigade of anti-feminist, pro-rape minions! According to Knepper, you should avoid sex at all costs until you are ready to be harassed, abused, and raped- and then ignored and laughed at.

Feminists have reconstructed our understanding of history, psychology, biology and sexuality. To make these truths speak louder and in more specific terms, I would like to recommend my five favorite books about the power of consent, sex-positivity, and gender theory on improving our culture and our lives: “Yes Means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape,” edited by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti, “Cunt: A Declaration of Independence Expanded and Updated Second Edition,” by Inga Muscioand Ph.D. Betty Dodson, “He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know,” also by Valenti, “Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex,” by Judith Butler, and “I Never Called It Rape: The Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting, and Surviving Date and Acquaintance Rape,” by Robin Warshaw.

Put down the Ann Coulter and embrace the eroticism of feminism!